Apparatus for compressing elastic fluids.



M. McWHORTER.

APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING ELASTIC FLUIDS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.I916. RENEWED MAY I5. 1918.

1,270,31 O. Patented June 25, 1918.

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JO 7 .??(m5fia' I D w, 15m tale Q) 1%,) forzjf n or- M. McWHORTER.APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING ELASTIC FLUIDS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.l9l6. RENEWED MAY 15,!918- Patented June 25, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- '5 New Mexico, have invented a new h for the valvestem so as UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON MOWHORTER, OF PLAYAS NEW MEXICO.

APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING ELASTIC FLUIDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 3 1916, Serial No. 107,403. Renewed May 15, 1918.Serial No. 234,763.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MIL'roN MCWHORTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Playas, in the county of Grant and State of and usefulApparatus for Compressing Elastic Fluids, of which the following is aspecification.

An object of this invention is the production of an eflicient device andmethod for compressing elastic fluids so that said fluids may be used tofurnish power or for any purpose whatsoever that elastic fluids areused.

Another object is to produce a device of this character of maximumsimplicity of construction and operation.

Another object is to produce a device of this character in which theiston will act on some strokes in the capac ty of a prime mover and willalso act on other of its strokes to compress air.

Another object is to store some of the energy of the exhaust when thepiston is functioningas a prime mover, and also to com ress atmosphericair when the piston is not unctioning as a prime mover,

Other objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detaildescription.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus built in accordance withthis invention for carrying out the newly invented meth the gear casebeing omitted for clearness o illustration.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end view of the cylinder and exhaust valveoperating gear. Fig. 3'is a sectional detail of the piston and cylinderand its parts.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevation of the intake valve chamber, a portionbeing shown in section to expose the needle va ve, fuel port and fuelcontrol valve to view.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on line indicated by LBS-(1)5, Fig. 4.

There is. provided a cylinder 1 of any and a piston 2 worksuitableconstruction ing in said cylinder and connected by a pitman 3 to a crankshaft 4 on which, if desired, may be mounted a fl wheel 5.

The cylinder 1 is provi ed with a port 6 controlled by a .valve plug7having a valve stem 8 terminating in a head or abutment 9,

there being a coil spring abutment 9 and the outer end of a guide 11 10between the to tend to hold the valve plug 7 in closed position to closethe port 6.

When relatively low pressures of explosive gases are to be dealt with inthe cylinor tank 14, said pipe line being provided with'an air inletvalve 15 and also with a check valve 16. .The exhaust port 12communicates with a branch17 of the pipe line.

13, though obviously said branch pipe 17 could discharge directly intothe receiver 14 instead of by way of the pipe line 13. The branch pipe17 is provided with a hand valve 18 and check valve 18.

The receiver 14 may be provided with a suitable pressure gage 19 andwith a blow off or safety valve 20. The receiver 14 is provided with adischarge pipe 21 having a valve 22, it bein understood that the pipe 21may be exten ed to the place where the compressed fluids are to beutilized.

Thevalve stem 8 is adapted to be engaged by one end ofa lever 23 whichis pivoted at 24 to a bracket 25 connected to the cylinder 1, the otherend of said lever being provided with a roller 26 extending in the pathof movement of a cam 27 on a cam shaft 28 that is connected by suitablegearing 29 to the shaft 4 as is well understood in the engine art tointermittently open the valve 7.

The cam shaft 28 also operates a governor indicated in general by thecharacter 30, said governor being connected by a link 31 and arm 32 toan air control valve plate 33 hav- 1ng slots 34 adapted to register withslots 35 in the rear wall of a chamber 36 when the valve plate is movedfor that purpose, the front wall of said chamber being provided withopenings 37 to admit air therethrough. The governor 30 may be of ansuitab e type, the action thereof being wel understood, and it suflicesto state that when the centrifugally operated elements of the governormove outward they. operate the, ink 31 to move the arm 32 in a directiontojcause the valve plate 33 to close the air openings'35. When theopenings 34, 35 reg:

ister with one another, the chamber 36 communicates therethrough withaninlet port 38 controlled by an inlet valve plug 39, the stem 40 of saidvalve plug being operated to move the valve plug 39 into port openingposition by a lever 41 fulcrumed on the pivot 24. The lever 41 isprovided with a roller 42 adapted to be engaged by a cam 43 on the camshaft 28 so as to intermittently open the valve plug 39 against thepressure of the valve closing spring 44in a manner well understood inthe engine art.

The chamber 36 is provided with a fuel nozzle 4.5 connected by a fuelpipe 46 to a suitable source of fuelsupply, said nozzle 45 beingcontrolled by a valve plug 47 normally held closed on its seat 48 by acoil spring 49 as in Fig. 4, suction produced by outward movement of thepiston 2 in the cylinder 1 being relied upon, when the valve plate 33 isin open position, to open the valve plug 47 against the pressure of thespring 49 to suck in fuel in a manner well understood in the gas engineart.

The ignition device is indicated in general by the character 50 and neednot be described in detail, since any suitable igniting device willanswer the purpose and the invention is not limited to the exactconstruction of said device.

In practice, assuming that a charge of combustible mixture has beendrawn into the cylinder 1, compressed and fired in a manner wellunderstood in the gas engine art, it is clear that the explodedchargewill exhaust through the ports 6 and 12 into the pipe line '13 andits-branch 17 and thence into the receiver 14 so as to raise thepressure in said receiver. Other charges will be introduced, compressedand fired in the same way until the governor 30 operates atsuflicientlyhigh speed to move the valve plate 34 into position to closetheopenings 35.

The next succeeding opening movement of the intake valve plug 39 willnot admit any charge to relieve the partial vacuum in the cylinder 1 andconsequently, the atmospheric pressure on the valve plug 7 being greaterthan the combined pressures,

of the spring 10 and fluid inside of the cylinder, said valve plug 39;will open. The succeeding outstroke of the piston 2 instead of being anidle stroke sucks atmospheric air through the inlet valve 15, pipe line13 andport 6 into the cylinder 1. Then the piston operates on its in'stroke,to compress the atmospheric air thus sucked in and the increasedpressure opens the check valve 16 so that compressed air dischargestherethrough into the receiver 14. ,The apparatus. continues, thus inoperation to intermittently suck in charges of atmospheric 1 air andcompress said charges and discharge them into the receiver 1'4". untilthe speed of thegovernor slackens suiiicientlyto open function todeliver compressed air to the receiver 14 as before.

From the foregoing it is clear that the piston 2 makes no idle strokesfor, when it is not drawing in a combustible charge to fire, it issucking in atmospheric .air and,

when it is not scavenging the burnt gases, it is compressing theatmospheric air sucked in and discharging said air into the receiver 14.

It is understood that a certain percentage of efficiency is lost in theexploding charges because of exhausting said char es against whateverpressure there is int e receiver 14, but this 1s more than offset byreason of the great percentage of efficiency obtained owing to theutilizing of all of the strokes of the piston and also owing tothesaving of-the pressure of the exhausting exploded gases.

The in the art to which the invention appertains to make and use saidinvention, it being understood that the construction may be variedwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. I claim:

1. In combination, a cylinder havin exhaust and intake ports, a pistonin sai cylinder, valves 'for said ports respectively,

foregoing will enable those skilled means to supply a combustiblemixture to the intake port, speed-controlled means to shut ofii thesupply of mixture to the intake port, means. to ignite the mixture, a receiver, and apipe line connecting the ex-' haust port to the receiver,said pipe line being provided with a check valve and with an air inletvalve. 1

2. In combination, a cylinder having exhaust and intake ports, a pistonin said cylinder, valves for said ports respectively, 1110 means tosupply a combustible mixture to the intake port, means to ignite themixture, a receiver, speed-controlled means to shut oif the supply ofmixture to the intake port, and a pipe line connecting the exhaust portto the receiver, said pipe line being provided with acheck'valve andwithan air inlet valve.

3. In combination, a'receiver, a cylinder having an intake port and amain exhaust port and an auxil1ar exhaust port, valves for the intakeport and main exhaust port respectively, a piston in the cylinderadapted to open and close this auxiliary exhaust port, means to supply acombustible mixture to the intake port, speed-controlling means toshut-ofl the supply of mixture,

-means to ignite the mixture, a receiver, and

a pipe line connecting the exhaust ports to the receiver, said pipe linebeing provided and said pipe line being provided between the receiverand auxiliary exhaust port with a second check valve.

4. In combination, a cylinder having intake and exhaust ports, a pistonin the cyl- I inder, a crank shaft operatively connected to the piston,a fly wheel on said crank shaft, a valve plug for-the exhaust port, asprin to normally hold said valve plug close a cam shaft operativelyconnected to the crank shaft, means operative by the cam shaft to movethe valve plug to open the exhaust port, ignition means for thecylinder, a governor operative by the cam shaft, a receiver, a pipe lineconnecting the exhaust port to the receiver, a check valve 1n saldpipeline, an air inlet valve in said pipe line, and means operative by.the governor to cause the exhaust valve plug to open on the suctionstroke of the piston to suck in a charge of atmospheri air through theexhaust port.

5. In combination, a gas engine cylinder, a receiver for compressed gas,a conduit connecting the gas engine cylinder and the receiver, a checkvalve in said conduit openin toward the receiver, an atmospheric airinfet valve in said conduitbetween the check valve and the gas enginecylinder, and a speed-controlled cut-o for tie motive fluid supply ofthe as engine.

Signed at 0s Angeles, 24th day of June, 1916.

MILTON McWHORTER.

California, this Witnesses:

GEORGE H. HILES, ANNA F. SCHMIDTBAUER.

